How to Stop Link Sharing - Google Drive

Written by Tijana Google Workplace / Drive

- 5 min read

Regardless of the file size, Google Drive is a terrific tool for managing, editing, and saving our data. The wonderful thing about Google Drive is that everyone can use it because it doesn't require any special knowledge or skills and is very user-friendly.

Additionally, Google Drive is a simple tool that every smartphone user can use to organize their data and save time by not having to look through each file individually.

Your data is therefore organized on Google Drive even when you're on the go.

You can share files and folders on Google Drive, manage sharing permissions, and stop link sharing.

Sharing Google Drive links is quite easy and simple, and most users are already familiar with all the sharing features.

But what about disabling link sharing?

In the article below, we’ll guide you step-by-step through the process and help you learn how to stop link sharing on Google Drive’s services.

Related: How to Rename Google Drive Folder.

Using Google Drive Desktop

  1. Open the Google Drive website.
  2. Find the file you want to stop sharing.

google-drive-sharing

  1. Right-click on the file, and click on ‘Get Link’ from the drop-down menu.

get-link-drive

  1. Under ‘General Access’, click on the arrow icon. From the menu, click on ‘Restricted’.

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  1. Click on ‘Done’ to save the changes.

Using Google Drive for iOS

  1. Open the Google Drive app on your iPhone/iPad.

google drive ios

  1. Find the file you want to change the shared link option to.
  2. Tap on the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the file to open the ‘Settings’ section.
  3. ‘Settings’ Manage Access

  1. From the ‘Manage Access’ menu, open the drop-down menu, and select ‘Restricted’.

manage access google drive ios

  1. After finishing this step, your sharing options will be changed.

Check out: How to Upload Video to YouTube From Google Drive.

Using Google Drive for Android

The steps to turning off link sharing on Android phones are quite the same as sharing with an iOS device. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Google Drive app on your Android.
  2. Find the file you want to change the link sharing options on.
  3. Tap on the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the file.
  4. Tap on ‘Share and Export’ (for some other Androids, such as Samsung Galaxy, the feature might lead directly to ‘Manage people and links’).

manage-access-android

  1. On the following screen, tap on ‘Manage people and links’.

acces-google-drive-android

  1. Under ‘Manage people and links’, tap on the ‘Access’ feature, and make sure to switch it to ‘Restricted’.

restricted-google-drive-ios

  1. After adjusting these changes, the sharing options on your file will be restricted to you only.

Conclusion

Anyone with edit permissions can modify your file's sharing options if you enable the link sharing options.

You can disable link sharing on Google Drive if you don't want anyone to be able to access your work in the public domain.

The steps above show how to stop link sharing on Google Drive for photos, videos, documents, and any other type of files on both iOS, Android, and the desktop version of Google Drive.

If you liked this article, check out: How to Access ‘Shared With Me’ in Google Drive and How to Change Language in Google Drive.